Prototype biodiversity digital twin: crop wild relatives genetic resources for food security

Abstract

Amidst population growth and climate-driven crop stresses such as drought, extreme weather, fungal and insect pests, as well as various crop diseases, ensuring food security demands innovative strategies. Crop wild relatives (CWR), wild plants in the same genus as the crop as well as wild populations belonging to the same species as the crop, offer novel genetic resources crucial for enhancing crop resilience against these stress factors. Here, we introduce a prototype digital twin (pDT) to aid in searching and utilising CWR genetic resources. Using the MoDGP (Modelling the Germplasm of Interest) tool, the pDT enables mapping geographic areas where stress-tolerant CWR populations can be found. With its graphical user interface, it offers flexibility in selecting genetic resources from CWR tailored to enhance resilience of various crops against diverse stress factors.